How about an "A" in life? Seriously SPM is a laughing matter
By Naif

Btw, am I the only one posting here? Guys you should update more, I'm spending my weekend with my brother, so I get to use the computer often, or else you wont be seing me updating on weekdays coz I'll be at my aunts.

Anyways, I want to dedicate this to all my friends and juniors in VI (or any other school) to seriously consider what I'm about to write. See, with all this comotion because SPM is just around the corner people tend to forget the most important thing: Life does not end here.

Seriously Malaysian society nowadays have this whole mentality that you're not only judged by how many A's you get in your PMR/SPM/STPM but your whole fucking future depends on it. Dont get me wrong, I'm not anti-examination, in fact I believe exams are the only way to test someone's capability and potential, but the situation in Malaysia right now is just outright ridiculous!

Why do I say that? First, lets go to the roots. I bet all of you probably take tution right? ( I know someone in this blog doesnt lol) So why did you take tution in the first place? My guess is that you couldn't understand what the teacher teaches in school. So tution becomes a suplement, a place where you could ask, and do extra revisions. Not only that, but tution also provides past year questions, upcoming questions, future questions, you name it. Besides, come on lah, we all kan malas, we dont do our homework, we dont listen in class, because we have tution!

You also have this perspective that teachers are withdrawing vital information that which is not been taught at school, thereby increasing their comercial value. These "teachers" will only give all these "tips" and "hints" provided they get extra money for it, therefore joining a tution center is a must for teachers.

Because of the increasing popularity of tution centers, more and more parents decide to send their children for tution. They justified it in their mind that its the only quick way to get an "A". They want instant success, they want instant satisfaction. So what do you actually do in this tution center? Everyday you do the same kind of "latihan", hearing teachers repeat the same thing over and over again. Its a never ending repetition of doing past year questions or frequent questions, and reading predicted topics or "ramalan". To make a long story short, you do things over and over again till when it does come out in your exam your just repeating it.

An interesting note worth mentioning, MRSM operates more or less the same way. They bombard the students with millions of homework. Again the repetition, they do this so that all this knowledge sticks to their mind. I have a friend in MRSM who is not content in getting 8A's in her trial!

So with all this help from "big brother" (aka tution centers) its just no wonder that people get straight A's. It becomes too fucking simple. Life thus becomes an endless race of who can get more A's than the other. Do you know that a staggering RM4 billion ringgit is spended anually in tution centers alone? Imagine what we can do with al that money-like getting more qualified teachers! The next time someone tells you he/she gotten straight A's, dont be fucking suprised, coz in this day and age any tom, dick and harry can get 17A's.

Usualy people who write complaining our education system are not doing well in exams. I agree, but this is not a complaint this is a critic =P Secondly, I did get good results in my trials which is 5A's. No, dont laugh! If you do, then you'll be laughing at a whole bunch of successful people who did not do well in their exams. Fyi- Tun Dr.Mahathir got only 3 distinctions! Thomas Edison quit school at a young age and if you still dont know, he invented the lightbulb. Lim Goh Tong, founder of Genting, is illiterate, meaning he cant read and write. Albert Einstein was labelled by his teacher quote, too dumb to do mathematics end quote.

Back to our education system: But its not always the case is it? People still do get bad results in their SPM and so forth. The reason is quite simple. The answer is not being able understanding what is being taught in the classroom. The teachers are too borring, too stupid, too dumb to understand student's mindset. When they get homework, they leave it alone. Parents dont help, their too busy with their job, the same old excuse. Grades drop so they resort to tution centers. Herein lies the flaw: people fail to realize that tution is not a free ticket to an "A". When tution doesnt work, truancy happens and this is the start of all other "gejala sosial". As for others, they pile all their syllabus to last minute. They say to themselves, dont worry, theres still next week. Well next week becomes next month, next month becomes next year. And before you know it, its already SPM!

So there lies the dilemma in our education system. In our persuit of "A's", we end up studying for exams, not for "life". Students then tend to memorized instead of learning. Those who fail to do so do not get good grades in their exams. Theres no creativity among Malaysian youth, no spark, no originality. Its always by-the-book. Did you know Amalina, when asked where she wants to further her studies, she replied "OXFARD". Yes dear, Oxfard indeed. So why the fuck does the government complain when graduates cannot get a job? This is a just whole mess that they themselves created.

To me school, should be a hastle free afair. Kids should be given space to explore their surroundings and environment. Let their minds fly. Parents too play a HUGE role, they're suppose to make space to spend time with their children and always always help them in their homework. Only then can the child understand, only then can then can the child go to school and only then can the child face the teachers. Lets face it, you and I one day will inherit this country, and we dont want cookie cutters, we dont want robots, we want variety.

So what can you learn from all this? Never judge a person by how many A's they get.

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education-Mark Twain American writer.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world- Albert Einstein
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune-Jim Rohn
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it-Ralph Waldo Emmerson
Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don't know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it-Sir William Haley